Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) says it needs to make only three modifications to the Dragon capsule, which it flew to orbit and recovered last month, so it can be ready to deliver crewmembers to the International Space Station (ISS).
The ever-optimistic hypersonics community is hoping for clear-cut success in 2011 as it again flies the X-51A Waverider scramjet demonstrator and rocket-boosted HTV-2 hypersonic glider. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s second Boeing X-51 will attempt to breach the Mach 5 barrier in March after modifications following the first flight last May.
Orbital Sciences is integrating the 1,160-lb. Glory climate-change satellite it built for NASA onto a Taurus XL launcher at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in preparation for a Feb. 23 flight. Besides building the spacecraft and launcher, Orbital will provide mission control from its Dulles, Va., headquarters. Glory is to be lifted into the high-inclination “A-Train” orbit of spacecraft conducting long-term climate-change studies of Earth’s oceans, land surfaces and atmosphere.
Engineers and managers at NASA are sure to change their new reference vehicle designs for the government’s next heavy-lift and human-spaceflight vehicles, because they’re already saying they don’t have enough money to carry them out. But key senators are insisting that they do.
Chromalloy’s $30-million investment in a new casting facility here signals its fine-tuned strategy to focus on engine parts that have higher engineering barriers to entry. These parts typically feature longer lead times, so Chromalloy plans to differentiate itself through technology and faster turnaround time, says Armand Lauzon, Jr., Chromalloy president and Sequa CEO.
Yassine Herraz, maintenance planning and packaging manager at Royal Air Maroc, has been awarded a scholarship by AJ Walter Aviation for the MScAircraft Maintenance Management degree course sponsored by the company and organized by City University, London.
Attaining a top speed of 40 kt,. AeroVironment’s Global Observer GO-1 long-endurance unmanned air vehicle has flown for the first time powered by a hydrogen-fueled propulsion system.
NASA’s Kepler orbiting observatory has located its first Earth-like planet beyond the Solar System, but the planet is so hot that it streams flecks of silicon and iron into space like a comet’s tail. Designated Kepler-10b, the planet is 1.4 times the size of Earth but orbits its star, called Kepler-10, at a distance 20 times closer than Mercury is to our Sun. Radiation from the star prevents -10B from having an atmosphere, and because it constantly presents the same face to its star, the surface is a 2,500F molten ocean, hotter than a lava flow.
Taiwan’s AIDC has instituted a trial production run at a new composites plant on which it is staking its future as a supplier to global civil aerospace programs. In building the plant, the state-owned manufacturer is undertaking a broad push to upgrade its technology and to prepare to build larger composite parts. Its key market is programs for civil aircraft with up to 100 seats.
Bobby Braun, NASA chief technologist, has been selected to receive the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics Award, given by the American Institute for Aeronautics . Braun was recognized for advancing the understanding of the challenge of Mars entry, descent and landing, and for the development of systems concepts and technologies enabling Martian exploration programs.
Bad weather and the need to work out individual issues have combined to push the National Reconnaissance Office’s L-49 launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., back to Jan. 20. The postponement also delays the debut of the Delta IV Heavy rocket at Vandenberg.
Considering the immense deficit-reduction work that lies ahead to help restore U.S. economic strength—which underwrites the nation’s military power—the aerospace industry ought to have breathed a sigh of relief when Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently unveiled the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2012 budget. Even with $78 billion stripped from future spending and another $100 million reallocated internally, government suppliers for the most part still dodged the proverbial bullet.
Meantime, NASA and the space industry’s interests suffered two setbacks in Congress last week when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) announced her 2012 retirement plans just days after an unrelated assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Both are considered reliable defenders of the U.S. space program, which is struggling to implement the nebulous NASA authorization act passed last year (see p. 18). Hutchison’s departure from the Capitol has long been expected—she tried unsuccessfully last year to be the Texas Republican candidate for governor.
Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East Conference & Exhibition. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Feb. 16-17—A&D Technology & Requirements Conference. Washington. March 8—Laureates Awards. Washington. April 12-13—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Miami. April 12-13—MRO Latin America Conference & Exhibition. Miami. April 12-14—MRO Americas Conference & Exhibition. Miami. May 10-12—NextGen Ahead. Washington. May 24-25—A&D Cybersecurity Forum. Washington.
China’s newest combat aircraft prototype, the J-20, will require an intense development program if it is going to catch up with fast-moving anti-stealth advances.
The Indian navy is establishing an unmanned-aircraft unit to address critical surveillance gaps over the Arabian Sea that were exposed during the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. Designated INAS 343, the squadron’s assets—Israel Aerospace Industries Herons and Searcher Mk. IIs—will be carved out from the fleet operated by India’s first UAV squadron, INAS 342. The latter currently operates eight Searchers and six Herons.
Aviation Week’s selection of Jeffery Smisek as 2010 Person of the Year has left me wondering if your choice was premature. I will not disparage Smisek’s reputation in the industry. It is well-known and he is well-respected, but all the man did was sign on the dotted line to merge two major airlines. Other than painting a few jets in the new livery, Smisek hasn’t solved any labor issues (the 70-seat regional jet court decision comes to mind) or done much else and it seems that this is still a merger in its infancy.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) plans an attempt to free NASA from a requirement that it fund the moribund Constellation program of exploration spacecraft, which was killed in the new NASA authorization act Nelson helped draft. Under language drafted by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), NASA must fund Constellation until a new appropriations bill passes Congress. NASA’s inspector general finds the agency will spend as much as $575 million by Sept. 30 on Constellation projects it otherwise would have scrapped.
Beijing Capital Airlines, a business aviation and air tour operator, plans to field more than 270 aircraft by 2015 as it exploits the explosive growth of the local market. Within that fleet, 141 will be business airplanes, says Ma Guohua, president of HNA Tourism, to which Capital is affiliated. The carrier has 24 business aircraft now, in a fleet of 50 aircraft of all types. One Boeing Business Jet is already on Capital’s books, and three are on order.
Gulfstream Aerospace appears to have made history by becoming the first civil aircraft manufacturer to fly a production fly-by-wire aircraft—a G650—using only a digitally controlled, electrically powered flight control system. The G650 only has two hydraulic systems, either of which can power the flight controls. The third flight control actuator system is fully electric, using electric backup hydrostatic actuators to move the ailerons, rudder, elevators and outboard wing multifunction spoilers.
Human factors, including psychological pressure on the pilot to take unjustified risks in poor weather, were cited by the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee in its final report on the Polish air force Tupolev Tu-154M crash on April 10, 2010, which killed all 96 on board, including Poland’s president and much of the military high command. No evidence of aircraft, engine or system failures before the collision was revealed, the report says.
French defense minister Alain Juppe has rejected industry entreaties to spend up to €100 million ($133 million) on ballistic missile defense technologies, according to industry officials. Contractors had hoped that Juppe would reverse the anti-BMD policy of his predecessor, Herve Morin, following a NATO agreement in late 2010 approving a plan for territorial missile defense.
India will gain its first component repair shop in a joint venture between Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) and Mumbai-based Max Aerospace and Aviation Ltd.’s Max MRO Services. Construction is to start early this year and finish in the first quarter of 2013, says AFI KLM E&M President Franck Terner. Terms were not disclosed, but the company, as yet unnamed, is expected to start operations with a 10,000-sq.-meter (108,000-sq.-ft.) facility.
John Crichton, president and CEO of Nav Canada, has been chosen to be a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame . He was instrumental in the establishment and privatization of Nav Canada in the 1990s and was head of the Air Transport Association from 1994-97, when he played a major role in the prelminaries to the 1995 U.S.-Canada open skies agreement.
